Designed by recent Aga Khan Award winners; WOHA Designs, and working together with the renowned German lighting designers Tim and Jan Edler of realities:united; they created this awesome looking lighting pills facade.

But personally, I don't really like the facade. The blinking humongous "pills" looks so un-environmentally friendly, and some say it's a little disturbing. But when I walked in, see the amazing column clad (the orange thingie :D), the sun-filled and extra spacious atrium, and the nice cheap and interesting shops inside, I'm in looove! :D

So when do you think is the right time to actually do something? Or do you need to wait to see until Maldives are actually under sea level? And 1/4 citizens of the world are already homeless because of the flood?

The title said it all. :) I'm soo excited! It surely is nice if IKEA (or should I say IEAK? :P) sold the DIY grafitti slogan, so Banksy (or other grafitti artists) wouldn't have to do all the hard work. ;)

In all the glories of some $15-20 billion worth of Japan's luxury market that's so strong it can breeze through the difficult times of the 70's and the 80's; Japanese people can still buy $100 worth of melons or S$1000 handbags, Louis Vuitton bags or some Hermès scarves. This very fact makes luxury products in Japan seems almost like a mass market.

But not anymore.

Nowadays, seems like more and more Japanese are getting in touch with their senses and getting so big on cost saving, even the umbrella sales went up because most people don't want to spend their money on taxis and prefer to walk in the rain.

Mattijs van Bergen, the designer for the design label MATTIJS (obviously!) has created this collection for Autumn/Winter 09/10.

So ..

A first look at the design, I was thinking, cool sleeves. Interesting pleats. And I thought, it should get instant approval from Heidi.And then I saw the pens at the foot of the mannequins, and I wonder, why pens? A closer look to the design will leave you awestruck. And understood.

So for this collection, the patterns are created by diligently doodling away the entire length of the fabrics. Awesome huh? And the results are quite stunning also. :)

I went down around the SMU , SAM and National Museum's area this afternoon to see closely the interesting and vaguely familiar plump figures that has been haunting me since I took a glimpse of it as my bus went past the vicinity last week.

I just HAVE to see it.

And here's what I found.

We live in a highly complex and volatile age. There is a deep spiritual poverty within humanity – they are spiritually lost and confused souls. Art is not merely a record of life and its activities, but is also a valuable form of spiritual healing.Li Chen, Taichung, 2009

Well said Mr. Chen. :) I couldn't agree more.

And as you'll see in the array of pictures below, the sculptures was made of bronze. You can only see it peeking from some of the rough finishes at some tiny areas. Lovely details, though I feel it's such a waste of precious bronze if you'd eventually have it painted in black, but hey, I'm just a commoner here. :)

Anyway, these lovely sculptures are going to be on display on 25 September to 9 December 2009; and you can find them around the Singapore Art Museum, the Land Transport Authority sites above the Mass Rapid Transit stations, the Campus Green of the Singapore Management University, and under the Banyan tree of the National Museum of Singapore. The collections on display are the artist’s 21 works (25 sculptures) presented from four series: The Beauty of Emptiness (1992 to 1997), Energy of Emptiness (1998 to 2000), Spiritual Journey through the Great Ether (2001 to present) and Soul Guardians (2008 to present).

" Welcome to my humble shack " :)

I'm officially a fan. :) I LOOVEEEE these sculptures! Not only it looked contemporary, but I love the expression on each of these Buddhas, their gestures, and furthermore, the philosophical meaning behind each creations. Even their size is just perfect. It's a perfect fuse between Asian philosophy, mythology, and somehow it also has a very contemporary and western look and feel. Each of the creations are powerful, and really, SMU is the perfect setting for these stunning bronze Buddhas.

While the swine flu rage seems to cool off, you will still need to kept a few extra masks at home, just in case. So how would you like to look disturbingly like our nearest primate relatives? But in a cool way, or course. :)

And to inspire you more, here a are a few of other interesting looking masks.